Covering shower flanges in a remodel

Hello,

My husband and I totally remodelled our 30 year old washrooms....we've gone from a lovely pink and blue carpeted theme to a more modern feel. The last thing we have left to do is deal with the shower and the shower/tub surround flanges. The flanges are flush with the drywall beside it so we can't use the mold resistant drywall to cover and paint over it nor can we tile over it because the surface is not flat.

Is there a specific way to cover the flanges??

We were told to use Kerdi board to cover the flange and drywall and that would make it flush. Once we do this can we tile right over it? Can we paint over the Kerdi board? We also found the flange trim kit...but it'll cost about $250 for each tub!! So that is our absolute last resort.

These may be totally rookie questions but we made it this far and we only have a few finishing touches left....any help would be appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

Try posting a picture of what you are dealing with. On many tub surrounds, they are designed to be installed on the studwall, and when you then install the drywall up to it, you lap it over the flange. Without seeing what you have, and how it is installed, guessing from your description would be risky.

KerdiBoard is a tile substrate. It's basically foam with a special membrane on both sides that is designed to accept thinset. It would not meet building codes unless it was covered in tile, so no, you would not want to use it in the rest of the room where you wanted just paint. Underneath tile, it is fine, stable, strong. Just painted, it would not meet fire codes, since the foam would not be protected, and could burn plus, without the tile on top, you could dent it or poke a hole in it.